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Let's find our seats, take our song books, turn to song 411 Song number 411 Oh Sing it out on the first Oh On the second Oh Oh Oh Amen we want to welcome you to this sunday morning meeting here at Verity Baptist Church We're so glad that you are with us Of course on the first sunday of the year and the bible says that in all things he should have the preeminence I'm, glad that you're here honoring the lord with your presence We appreciate you being here and I want to say thank you to all of you who are praying for my wife and I We were traveling Uh yesterday we were in phoenix at uh, solomon anderson's wedding pastor anderson's son and we had a good time However, our flight got delayed and we didn't get home till 1 30 in the morning So if we seem a little tired, you'll know why but we're glad to be of course with you In the house of the lord, let's begin the service with a word of prayer. Let's fire our heads together And my father lord, we do love you and we thank you for allowing us to gather together today lord We pray that you would bless the service to this morning lord We pray that you would meet with us where you pray that you bless the singing the preaching the fellowship We pray that everything that's done today would bring honor and glory to your name and lord. We do want to just Give you this year and ask that you would do a great work among us and that you would do a great work on us In 2024, we love you in jesus name. We pray. Amen Turn to song 145 One four five please well with my soul 145 let's sing it out on the first Me Ladies So On the second So Please Is Me Good let's end it strong on the last Is Amen all right. Well, let's take our bulletins We'll look at some announcements real quickly If you do not have a bulletin this morning Just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you If you need a bulletin just put your hand up and we will get one for you the verse this week proverbs 6 23 For the commandment is a lamp and the law is light and reproof of instruction are the way of life and that's a good Verse there. We like that if you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service time sunday morning service 10 30 Am and we are glad that you're with us. Of course on sunday morning on the lord state for church We do invite you to be back tonight at 6 p.m For the evening service and the evening service is different than the morning service different songs that are sung different sermon that's preached There's one more opportunity to be in god's house with god's people Of course under the preaching of the word of god and we'd love for you to join us on wednesday night for the wednesday evening Bible study if you look at our soul winning times our main soul times on saturday mornings at 10 a.m And then we have additional so an additional sewing time on sunday this afternoon at 2 p.m So if you'd like to go soul winning we have a time for you to be able to do that If you are a first-time guest if it's your first time here at verity baptist church. We're so glad you're with us We have a gift We'd like to give you as you walk out of the church building this Morning, if you go out our main foyer if you go out our secondary foyer You'll see a little table set up and on that table. You will see these little gift bags Please grab one on your way out as a gift from us to you for being our guest this morning There are several resources In this bag that we'd like to have the one I like to highlight is this documentary that our church made is called being baptist It's very well made very interesting. We think you'll like it and we want to give this to you as a gift So, please make sure you don't leave here this morning without grabbing one of these gift bags on your way out And if you are a guest we'd ask that you please take a moment to fill out the communication card Which is inserted in your bulletin if need a pen just raise your hand And one of our ushers will bring you by a verity baptist church pen Which you're welcome to keep as well, of course, and we would love to have a record of your attendance We would actually like to send you a little gift, but we need your information to do that So, please take a moment to fill the card out when you're done When we're done with the announcements, we're going to sing a song when we're done singing We're going to receive the offering and as the offering plate goes by you can drop this card in the offering plate Or you can hand it to me after the service. I'll be standing at the main door greeting people on the way out I hope you'll come by and say hello. If you look at the announcements there We of course are a family integrated church What that means is that children and infants are always welcome in the church service We do not separate children from their parents for any reason We do have mother baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience all the rooms have comfortable seating They have monitor subs. You can watch the service and listen to it So if you have a child that's been distracting during the service or if you need some privacy We encourage you to get up and go use those rooms as needed if you need to be baptized Please let us know we'd love to baptize you and the baptistry is filled the water's warm We've got everything you need To be baptized and you can just on your communication card if you check off on the back We'll follow up with you and talk to you about baptism if you've already spoken to somebody Then all you need to do is at the end of the service after the preaching while we're singing the last song If you step out that door One of our staff guys will meet you there and we'll get you situated for baptisms this morning or this evening whenever it works for you If you look at the announcements and upcoming events Of course, we have the work days work is still going on over on the new property And we just want you to know that there has been a change And the this the work day on in the bulletin the announcement is not up to date All right. So let me just give you the up-to-date announcement. We have one work day this week There's one clipboard in the foyer and it is for tomorrow. All right, not thursday or friday There will be no work going on thursday friday or saturday over on the other property, but we needed some work done tomorrow January 8th I realize that's a monday and I get that and it's a little short notice But we just want you to know there's one clipboard three shifts from 8 a.m To 7 p.m. And what we need to do is finish getting ready for Paint if you are able to do drywall mudding masking cleaning up if you can help if you can prepare Help us get ready for paint. We would really appreciate your help and the painters are coming in on tuesday. So it needs to be done Tomorrow So if you can help us with that, we would appreciate it. There's one clipboard one day. All right, nothing on thursday Nothing on friday, uh, nothing on saturday because they'll probably be painting thursday friday and saturday So we won't be in there while they're doing that but we do have one work day tomorrow So if you could help us with that if there's any way you could help with that. We would really appreciate your help regarding that And if you look at the announcements there, of course, we've got our sermon series Uh back we're back in the book of numbers wilderness wanderings We have the book of hebrews on wednesday nights and then we have nine chapters a day I hope you've been uh staying with your nine chapters a day and uh sticking with it Make sure that you finish to the end. Don't forget that you have two grace period days and uh here soon You some of you are going to start finishing. There's always a few of you that get it done Very early, but make sure you don't give up don't quit All right especially if you if you got a little behind and if you're going through the straight through reading chart just realize That once you get the book once you get past the book of aks The chapters get a lot shorter and the amount of time that you have to read nine chapters starts getting a lot shorter Which means that if you got behind you can start getting ahead once you start getting into galatians effusions philippians You can start reading more than nine chapters if you are behind so make sure you stay with it. Don't give up. Don't quit You'll be glad you did ladies weight loss accountability group. There's a meeting every Wednesday at 6 15 p.m. In the mother baby room closest to the main entrance So ladies, you're welcome to be a part of that if you'd like homeschool group. They've got pe class this thursday january 11th We just want you to be aware of that at 10 a.m Pe starts back up and there's other things there for you to look at Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off and place them on silent during the service So they're not a distraction to anybody if you look at the back of the bulletin birthdays and anniversaries For this week this week. There's only one birthday. That's very rare Usually there's a lot but there's one birthday this week brother keith rosenberg on january 9th Praise report money matters. All those things are there for you to Look at and I think that's it For all of the announcements. I do want you to be in prayer for our church family We have several families with us young children small children that are out sick So be praying that they all get better and back to church soon We're going to go ahead and sing the chorus of the week, which is the insert in your bulletin And we're going to sing holy holy holy As we prepare to receive the offering this morning And this is a an epic song you got to sing it with passion So let's go ahead and sing it out together on the first So On the second Oh Oh Good we're gonna sing it out on the third. I'm gonna ask brother james. Can we just slow it down? Just the hair on the third. We'll pick it back up on the fourth Let's just sing it on purpose with purpose on the third stanza Yes Good singing out Ah Make it back up on the last Me Amen good singing off the guys come up and help us with the Offering at this time and let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer Heavenly father lord. We do love you. We thank you for lying us together together on this first lord's day of the Of the year lord We pray that you would bless us bless the offering the gift and the giver We pray that you would continue to bless and help our church in this new year. We love you in jesus name. We pray. Amen So So So So So Turn your bibles to numbers chapter 20 Numbers chapter 20 if you don't have a bible raise your hand or not. She'll bring you one Numbers chapter 20 we will read the entire chapter as their custom Numbers chapter 20 just keep your hands up and in us. She'll bring you a bible Numbers chapter 20 the bible reads Then came the children of israel even the whole congregation into the desert of zin in the first month And the people abode in cadish and miriam died there and was buried there And there was no water for the congregation And they gathered themselves together against moses and against aaron and the people chode with moses and spake saying Would god that we had died when our brethren died before the lord And why have you brought up the congregation of the lord into this wilderness that we and our cattle should die there? And wherefore have you made us to come up out of egypt to bring us into this evil place? It is no place of seed or of figs or vines or pomegranates Neither. Is there any water to drink? And moses and aaron went from the presence of the assembly until the door of the tabernacle of the congregation And they fell upon their faces and the glory of the lord appeared unto them and the lord spake unto moses saying Take the rod and gather thou the assembly together Thou and aaron thy brother and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes and it shall give forth his water And thou shall bring forth to them water out of the rock. So thou shall give the congregation and their beasts drink And moses took the rod from before the lord as he commanded him And moses and aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock And he said unto them here now you rebels must we fetch you water out of this rock? And moses lifted up his hand and with his rod He smoked the rock twice and the water came out abundantly and the congregation drank and their beasts also And the lord spake unto moses and aaron because he believed me not to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of israel Therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them This is the water of maribah because the children of israel strove with the lord and he was sanctified in them And moses sent messengers from kadesh unto the king of edom Thus saith thy brother israel thou knowest all the travail that that that hath befallen us how our fathers went down into egypt And we have dwelt in egypt a long time and the egyptians vexed us and our fathers and when we cried unto the lord He heard our voice and sent an angel and hath brought us forth out of egypt And behold we are in kadesh a city in the uttermost of thy border Let us pass I pray thee through thy country We will not pass through the fields or through the vineyards neither will we drink of the water of the wells We will go by the king's highway. We will not turn to the right hand nor to the left until we have passed thy borders And edom said unto him thou shall not pass by me lest I come out against thee with the sword And the children of israel said unto him We will go by the highway and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it I will only without doing anything else go through on my feet And he said thou shall not go through and edom came out against him with much people and with the strong hand Thus edom refused to give israel passage through his border or for israel turned away from and the children of israel Even the whole congregation journeyed from kadesh and came onto mount hor And the lord spake unto moses and aaron and mount hor by the coast of the land of edom saying Aaron shall be gathered unto his people for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of israel Because he have rebelled against my word at the water of maribah Take aaron and elosei are his son And bring them up onto mount hor and strip aaron of his garments and put them upon eliezer his son And aaron shall be gathered unto his people And shall die there and moses did as the lord commanded and they went up into mount hor in the side of all the congregation And moses stripped aaron of his garments and put them upon eliezer his son And aaron died there in the top of the mountain and moses and eliezer came down from the mount And when all the congregation saw that aaron was dead they mourned for aaron 30 days even all the house of israel Let's pray Father god, thank you for this day. Thank you for allowing us to come together. Please bless pastor in the message Please let your message bring glory and honor to you in the name of jesus christ. I pray amen Amen All right Well, we're back In the book of numbers. We took a little break from the book of numbers due to the holidays and holiday sermons and things like that But we're back in uh numbers chapter number 20. And of course we've been going through a sermon series called wilderness wanderings And it's a chapter by chapter study through the book of numbers and uh this morning We find ourselves here in numbers chapter 20 And we're actually going to deal with the first part of chapter 20 up to verse 13 this morning And then we'll deal with the second part of chapter 20 Tonight what we see here in numbers chapter 20 in the first part is a very famous passage Of moses striking the rock and what we're going to see is really moses at his lowest time at his worst time And actually as a result of this event God punishes moses by not allowing him to enter into the promised land and we're going to look at the story and Learn several things from the story that we can Apply to our own lives. However, before we get to that I do want to just by way of introduction Show you that here in the book of numbers. There's in there's a major transition between chapter 19 and chapter 20 There's a major transition in the book of numbers that you may not notice if you're just simply reading through it And and not thinking about it as you're going through it, but I like to show it to you Uh this morning just so you are aware of the context in which we are in the book of numbers So you'll notice there in numbers chapter 20 the chapter begins with the death of miriam. Of course miriam was moses's sister Uh, aaron is moses's brother in numbers chapter 20 verse 1 the bible says this then came the children of israel Even the whole congregation into the desert of zin in the first month. I want you to notice that In verse 1 we're told in the first month, but we're not told in the first month of what year And so you're kind of left hanging with this, you know the first month of what year and the people of boden kadish And then I want you to notice this little phrase and miriam died there and was buried there. So here numbers chapter 20 begins uh with this Major death, of course miriam is a major Character in the life of moses and we're told that she died She died there and was buried there and we're told that it happened in the first month what year? We're not sure the writer doesn't tell us We're just told that they came into the desert of zin in the first month and the whole people of boden kadish And miriam died there and was buried there now What's interesting about that? Is that in this same chapter towards the end of the chapter and we're not going to deal with this this morning We're going to talk about it tonight But in verse 28, if you'll go down to numbers chapter 20 verse 28, you'll find that Not only does miriam die at the beginning of chapter 20 But also aaron dies at the end of the same chapter numbers chapter 20 verse 28 The bible says this and moses stripped aaron of his garments and put them upon aliaser his son and aaron died there In the top of the mount and moses and aliaser came down from the mount. So I want you to notice that miriam died In the first month But we are not told of what year and then aaron dies later in the same chapter Now the bible does tell us in fact the book of numbers itself tells us When it is that aaron died not here in chapter 20 when he dies But we're told later on in the book. Let me just show that to you real quickly You're there in numbers 20 flip over to numbers chapter 33 numbers chapter 33 if you would and look down at verse number 38 numbers 33 And Verse 38 the bible says this and aaron the priest went up into mount hor at the commandment of the lord and died there Notice these words in the 40th year After the children of israel were come out of the land of egypt in the first day Of the fifth month now if you were with us when we started the book of numbers You know that at the beginning of the book of numbers, we noted the fact that the book of numbers pretty much takes place Uh within the first year or couple of years of the children of israel Wandering in the wilderness and these stories that take place up to chapter 19 When we're talking about the narrative aspects of the story because we've got a lot of laws and ordinances and things that are given but all of these those things took place early in Uh, the wilderness wanderings of the children of israel in numbers 33 and verse 38 We're told that aaron the priest went up to mount hor and the as the commandment of the lord And died there and then we're told when aaron died that he died in the 40th year After the children of israel were come out of the land of egypt in the first day Notice these words of the fifth month So we're told that he died on the first day of the fifth month of the 40th year and aaron was in 120 and three years old when he died in mount hor now you can go back to numbers chapter 20 and let me just say this We know from numbers 33 verses 38 And 39 that when aaron died he died in the 40th year After the children of israel were come out of the land of egypt He died in pretty much the last year. They spent 40 years wandering the wilderness He died in that last year before the children of israel entered into the promised land based off that we know this That when we get to numbers chapter 20 and verse 23 Where the story of aaron's death begins we know that at that point we have transitioned or we have fast forwarded in the story about 38 years that's without a doubt. We know by the time we get to numbers 20 and verse 23 We are fast We fast forward to the 40th year and the events that take place from numbers 20 to the end of the chapter all take place In the last year of the children of israel wandering in The wilderness, however, let me just say this my assumption and my belief and this is just an opinion and you can disagree with it if you'd like but my Belief is that the transition happens between chapter 19 and chapter 20 In fact, the fact that the chapter begins with merriam's death Is a marker of the fact that we're going to fast forward now where there's 38 years. We're skipping here We're going to go from the first couple of years the children of israel wandering in the wilderness Up through chapter 19. Of course, we dealt with quora and all those things and then we're going to transition Into chapter 20 and what this is telling the the the writer what the reader who would be familiar with this When we bring up the death of merriam is that we've fast forwarded 38 years and we are now at the end the last year of the children of israel wandering in the wilderness Now let me say this we know for sure by the time we get to the end of chapter 20 We fast forwarded because we know erin died on the 40th year But the assumption is this that we're told merriam died in the first month of a non-given year but she dies in the same chapter that erin dies which seems to Tie these things as close together and close to each other And we know that erin died on the fifth month of the 40th year So the assumption is that merriam died on the first month of the same year that erin died She died four months before erin which would make sense. They were already adults. They were already old When they started the wilderness wanderings moses was 80 years old when they started wandering in the wilderness and Erin would be just a little older than moses. Miriam would be a little older than erin And so we see that miriam dies here at an old age Erin dies as well. And the main thing I want you to notice is that the book is transitioning we are transitioning Towards the end of the wilderness wanderings And though we're not at the end of the book of numbers There's still a lot of things that are going to happen and go on you need to understand that at this point The context is that they have been in the wilderness for a while. Now. Sometimes people ask what about all those years? What about all those years in between and I think what god is doing He gives us all the highlights of all the really important stories and the things we need to know as a result of them entering into Coming out of egypt being at the promised land. They were there for about a year While being right with god if you remember they spent a year Getting ready to cross the wilderness to enter the promised land the journey across the wilderness should have only taken a few weeks As a result of the rebellion of the children of israel And them refusing to enter the promised land if you remember the 12 spies and the 10 spies that gave the evil report God had them wander in the wilderness uh for uh 38 years a total of 40 years and of course We we saw all the highlights that we needed to see About korra and the rebellions and the things that happened errands rod that butted all those things Were important things that happened in the first second year of them wandering the wilderness Then we transition we just fast forward right if it was a movie We'd just see them all moving fast through the wilderness and then at the we get to the 40th year The last year before they enter because some very important things happen there before moses dies and when they enter into the promised land now people ask what about those 38 years and The idea is this that they spent 38 years wandering the wilderness And there was nothing of note and nothing important in fact God doesn't even feel the need to mention anything about it And here's an application for you just by way of introduction some of you have spent maybe 38 years Maybe not 38 years, but you spent some uh years of your life wandering in the wilderness And you know as far as god is concerned it doesn't need to be mentioned Doesn't need to be brought up There's no no history there that needs to be remembered or looked back on You know, we should look forward in the christian life and these individuals spent 38 years of their life in the world wandering the wilderness Doing nothing accomplishing nothing, but notice that god says Just forget about it. Paul would say it this way forgetting those things which are behind And reaching forth unto those things which are before so we see the context here. We've transitioned We fast forwarded. We're at the end of the wilderness wanderings, but yet there's still much that'll happen in the next year Before they enter into the promised land then we get into the story begins there in verse two notice what it says And there was no water for the congregation. There's two main thoughts I'd like to bring out to you regarding this story of moses and hitting the rock And if you'd like to jot these down or if you'd like to write them down There's a place For you to be able to do that On the back of your course of the week. There's a place for you to be able to write down some notes The first thing i'd like you to notice is the problem Of the ministry and we're talking here about the specifically about the ministry of moses but I want you to notice the problems that moses finds in ministry the problems that All of us find in ministry. They have wandered the wilderness now for 38 years 40 years And miriam has died Aaron is about to die later on in this chapter and the bible tells us the story that begins in verse 2 where it says that There was No water for the congregation. I'd like you to notice the response to the problem When we look at the response to the problem There's two ways, of course to respond to any problem the wrong way and the right way and we see that the children of israel Again, as is their nature they Respond the wrong way to this problem. Notice the wrong response. There is at the end of verse two Let's just read verse two and there was no water for the congregation Notice what the bible says and they the congregation gathered themselves together notice these words against moses and against eric And when you read the book of numbers and you're just reading chapter after chapter after chapter Not really considering the context you think well, yeah, this is normal This is what they do when you consider the fact that we have now fast forwarded 38 years into the future And we read numbers chapter 20 and it sounds just like Numbers chapter 19 and 18 and 17 and 16. You got to ask yourself this question. Are these people ever going to change? And you know in my life and in your life if we continue to respond the same way to the same problems At some point god is going to look down on us and ask are you ever going to change? Are you ever going to respond differently? Are you are you ever going to respond differently to these problems? But notice the bible says that there was no water And the children of israel true to form they gathered themselves together against moses and against erin verse 3 And the people showed that word chode is an archaic word. We don't use it a lot today It's the past tense of the word chide which means to speak angry or displeased to rebuke to disapprove The bible says the people showed with moses and spake saying would god that we had died When our brethren died before the lord, I want you to notice their response was a response of criticism They're criticizing they're saying they're they're chiding with moses. They're arguing with moses. They're angry at moses They're just criticizing moses or displeased with him. They're rebuking him They're they're voicing their disapproval and saying would god that we had died and consider the fact that we're now 38 years Into the future and lots of people have died lots of individuals have died And they're saying what god that we had died When our brethren died before the lord Notice they respond with criticism. They also respond with complaining look at verse four Notice what they say and why have ye brought up the congregation of the lord into this wilderness That we and our cattle should die there Notice verse five and wherefore the word wherefore means for what reason have you made us to come up out of egypt To bring us in Unto this evil place. It is no place of seed or of figs or vines or pomegranates Neither. Is there any water to drink? So notice the wrong response and the wrong response is usually the response that we give in in our flesh The the natural response when problems arise when issues arise when you get to a place in life You show up and you realize there's no water to drink. There's no water for the congregation We're talking about a group of millions of people not just millions of people but cattle and all sorts of Animals that they have with them. There's nothing for them to drink There's a problem and look it's a legitimate problem and it's a real problem But human nature is this to always respond respond to problems with criticism and complaining They're criticizing the man of god. They're complaining about their situation And i'll just say this you can complain all day all you want about problems complaining doesn't ever change anything Doesn't fix anything Criticizing doesn't fix anything So we see the wrong response. They were critical and they were complainers then i'd like you to notice Again, the right response now. This is a story where moses looks bad, but he doesn't look bad yet In fact in verse six he gives the right response and is the response he's been giving throughout the book of numbers notice numbers chapter 20 and verse number six the bible says this and moses and aaron Went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and they make note of these words fell upon their faces And the glory of the lord appeared unto them The bible tells us that they fell upon their faces while other people responded to this problem with criticism and complaining moses and aaron responded to this problem with prayer The bible says they fell upon their faces and and I just want to say this I believe that every problem that you and I have in life every problem that we face whether it's in ministry Whether it's your personal life whether it's your professional life What your private life whatever it might be. I believe that every problem we have in life is a prayer problem And and oftentimes we minimize prayer and we forget about prayer And and and we we tend to not pray but I want you to notice that the right response here At this at this moment was for moses and aaron to fall upon their faces and notice what the bible says They fell upon their faces and the glory of the lord appeared unto them You and I have access to god almighty god. We have the ability to come into his throne We have the ability to draw near to him through prayer and it is so often the case that we fail to pray And I say to you That I believe every problem that we have is a prayer problem There are things that My wife and I that we're burdened about things that we're worried about and we're concerned about and not anything that I could share with you Publicly oftentimes in ministry many of the burdens that we carry are private burdens. They cannot be shared Publicly, but yet we worry about them and and and we talk about it and it's always interesting to me Whenever my wife and I get to the place where we just say we we need to just commit this thing to prayer We need to just commit You and I to just pray every day about this situation to just pray every day about this problem that god Would do something and and step in to this situation It's always interesting to me when we decide to pray about a specific issue problem something We're burdened about worried about in our life. It's always interesting to me how the glory of the lord Just happens to appear not soon after That the the glory of the lord appears That god begins to work on the other side and hearts begin to melt and things Begin to change and it's always the same thing. We always think why don't we start praying about this earlier? And I would submit to you this morning that every problem you and I have is a prayer problem And if we would just get in the habit of responding to our problems this way To fall upon our faces before the lord That the glory of the lord might appear And might help us So we see the response to the problem. We see the wrong response from the children of israel the criticism and the complaining We see the right response from moses and aaron. They fell upon their faces and prayed And i'd like you to notice the reason for the problem notice verse number seven And the lord spake unto moses saying Take the rod and gather thou the assembly together thou and aaron and thy brother and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes And it the if there is referring to the rock it shall give forth his water And thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock So thou shalt give the congregation and their beast Drink I want you to notice that as a result of the right response that moses and aaron's fell upon their faces Then god answers the prayer and in the prayer we see the reason for the problem The reason for the problem was this god said I want you to speak unto the rock before Their eyes the there there is referring to the children of israel and it the rock shall give forth notice this pronoun his water Who's the his the rock? And thou shall bring forth to them water out of the rock Let me just say this When we look at this situation and we look at the reason for this problem It's often the same reason for every problem. God allows problems in our lives So that we will turn to him God often allows problems in our lives so that he can supply our need You don't have to turn here. I'll just read this for you. Psalm 119 and verse 71 says this It is good for me that I have been afflicted That I might learn my statutes It is good for me that i've been afflicted That I might learn my statutes and oftentimes the reason that god allows problems in our lives is because Maybe he hasn't heard from us in a while Maybe it's been I don't know but maybe it's been 38 years since moses and aaron fell upon their faces And sometimes I believe that god allows things to come into our lives because he wants to show himself often god allows things To come into our life because he wants to display himself in our lives He wants to show us that he's there and that he cares he wants to return to him So if you find yourself facing a problem And i'm sure many of you do The christian life is a life of problems. I often tell people in the christian life. You're either in a storm You're either coming out of a storm Or you're getting ready to go into a storm. That's the christian life You're either getting ready to go into a storm. You're going through a storm or coming out of the storm Just get get used to it. That's just the way it is And oftentimes when we find ourselves in the midst of those tones those storms What we ought to ask ourselves is what is it that god is trying to teach me through this? What is it that god wants to show to me? What is it that god wants me to do as a result of this problem? Because I have found when god is trying to teach us a lesson It's in my best interest to learn the lesson as quickly as possible So that we can move on So we see here the problems of ministry the response and the reason But then i'd like you to notice the pressure of ministry Moses kind of loses it in this chapter I want you to notice what sets moses off In verse 9 we see this and moses took the rod From before the lord remember god has already instructed him God said I want you to take the rod. I want you to go to the rock. I want you to speak to the rock I want you to do this in their presence He said I want you to do this Before their faces he said there in verse 8 speak ye unto the rock before their eyes And it shall give forth his water He said it's very important moses that you walk up to this rock and you speak to it And when you do this moses I want you to do I want to make sure that everybody sees you do it I want you to do it before their eyes and then that rock when you speak that rock it's gonna He when you speak to him when you speak he's going to give you his water But I want you to notice what moses does verse 9 And moses took the rod from before the lord As he commanded him And moses and aaron gathered the congregation together That's what they're supposed to do. Right what he's supposed to do is supposed to be done before their eyes He gathered the congregation together before the rock and he said unto them and here at this moment In numbers chapter 20 in verse 10 in the middle of the verse at this comma at up to this point Everything has been good. Everything has been right there has been a problem. They have responded appropriately. They responded correctly They fell upon their faces god gave them instructions He told him the reason for the problem was to show myself strong in this problem so that you might turn to me I want you to speak to the rock and I want you to do it before their eyes And then the water is going to give forth Water but after the comma in the middle of chapter verse 10 chapter 20 in verse 10 Is where everything kind of derails I want you to notice it number 20 verse 10 and moses and aaron Gathered the congregation together before the rock and he said unto them here now ye rebels And you can just tell this is not going to go well It kind of goes downhill from here Now let me just say this the reason that Moses kind of goes off By the way, god did not tell them tell moses to tell them anything He didn't say call them rebels and he said speak to the rock I want you to notice moses gets into trouble when he stops speaking to the rock and starts speaking to the people He's not speaking to the rock but he's speaking to his problems Here now ye rebels now before we come down too hard on moses Let me just give you a little bit of a background some of you know this but maybe you're not familiar with this or maybe You don't remember it go to exodus chapter 17 Exodus chapter 17 if you go backwards Uh from the book of numbers you'll go past the book of leviticus into the book of exodus exodus chapter 17 Do me a favor when you get there put a ribbon or a bookmark or something Because we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it And I want you to be able to get to it quickly exodus chapter number 17 Let me let you in on a little uh Part of this story that I think should be brought out and should be acknowledged And it is this That moses has already dealt with this problem In fact moses had already dealt with the same problem in the same place with the same people Not necessarily the same people but the same type of people In fact the descendants of the same people remember in exodus 20 we fast forward 38 years They get to a place where there is no water They complain and they chide against moses And god provides water From a rock this already happened It already happened 38 years earlier 40 years earlier In excess 17, let's look at it excess 17 look at verse 1 And all the congregation of the children of israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin After their journeys according to the commandments of the lord and pitched in refidim Notice what the bible says And there was no water for the people to drink Wherefore the people did notice this word chide with moses Remember the word chode in numbers. It's the same word Means to speak angry displease rebuke disapprove criticize complain the people did chide with moses and said give us water That we may drink and moses said unto them why chide ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the lord? look at verse 3 And the people thirsted there Thirsted there for water and the people murmured against moses And said wherefore is this that thou has brought us up out of egypt? Notice this to kill us And our children and our cattle with thirst And moses cried unto the lord saying what shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me And the lord said unto moses go on before the people and take with thee the elders of israel and thy rod Wherewith thou smotest the river take in thine hand and go behold I will stand before thee there upon the rock and horrib and thou shalt smite the rock And there shall come water out of it. Now you might be reading this and thinking pastor I think you're a little confused. This sounds like the exact same story. It sounds like a very similar story, but it's a different story First of all, we know just from the context of the bible that this happened There's 38 years that have happened between these two stories But even if you just look at the story, you'll notice that there are some differences First of all here in exodus 17 notice that there's all these references to egypt in verse 3 Wherefore if thou uh, if this thou has brought us up out of egypt And the other in numbers they say what to god we had died in the wilderness here They're saying why did you bring us from egypt? The reason they say in exeter is why did you bring us from egypt because these people just came out of egypt The reason they say why didn't you just kill us in the wilderness is because those people have grown up in the wilderness And they've seen many of the elders of the nation die in the wilderness Notice verse 5 and the lord's terms of moses go on before the people and take with thee notice of the elders of israel In exeter 17, he's supposed to take the elders of israel and thy rod In number 17, he's not supposed to take the elders of israel he's supposed to take aaron now why is Does the bible does god tell him not tell him to take aaron in exodus 17? The reason for it is because aaron has not really taken the position of a high priest and the position of prominence yet at this point So he takes the elders of israel with him Why is he not told to take the elders of israel in numbers 19 to speak to the rock? The reason for it is because they're all dead Because they've been in the wilderness for 40 years remember that generation has died So in excess 17, we're supposed to take the elders of israel and irad away with osmosis the river take it in thine hand and go And just in case you think well, I don't know. I think it's still the same story All of all those circumstantial evidence aren't enough to convince you then this should convince you the instructions given to moses are different In excess 17 and verse 6 the bible says this behold this is god speaking to moses I will stand before thee there upon the rock in horrib and thou shalt smite the word smite means to hit Thou shalt smite the rock and there shall come water out of it that the people may drink and moses Did show in the sight of the elders of israel and he called the name of the place masa and maribah because the children of israel Because the chiding of the children of israel because they tempted the lord saying is the lord among us or not So notice the instructions in excess 17 was for moses to take his rod and to smite the rock and when he hit the rock Then god would allow water to come out of the rock There shall come water out of it and the people may drink in numbers 20 The instructions were not to smite the rock but to speak to the rock In fact, that's what gets moses into trouble When moses loses it And when moses blows up He fails to speak to the rock and he smites the rock He does in numbers 20 38 years later what he did in exodus 17 38 years earlier The difference is that 38 years earlier god said smite the rock In number 17 god said speak to the rock Go to numbers 20 go back to number 20. Keep your place there in exodus 17 So do you get the background and do you see why maybe moses would be upset about this He's already dealt with the same problem at the same place with the same type of people By the way, let me say this you say why would god do this the exact same problem Remember when we left the children of israel in exodus 19 They went on a little journey that took 38 years They have been doing nothing accomplishing nothing wandering in the world and wandering in the wilderness They have been backslidden For the last 38 years and now as a people as the children of israel They're coming back to god towards the end of that because god wants to start working with them to prepare them He says the 40 years are up. I gave you a 40-year punishment 40 years are up now I want to start working with you and prepare you to enter into the promised land but notice When god brings them back They have to deal with the same problems and the same type of problems that they dealt with when they left Do you understand what i'm saying to you? 40 years earlier they were having issues of not having water. They were having issues of complaining and criticizing They're having issues of chiding with their spiritual leadership and and and and and rebelling against moses and rebelling against god They were dealing with that 40 years earlier when they come back God says let me bring you right back to a place where there is no water Let me bring you right back to a thing that we've already dealt with and here's all i'm saying Whatever it is when you decide to backslide when you decide to leave when you decide I hope it's not true and I hope it never happens in your life But when and if you ever decide to quit on god whatever problem it was That was before you that caused you to quit that caused you to get bitter that caused you to get angry That it caused you to quit on god and leave and and not serve god Let me tell you something when you wake up eight years later or 38 years later and decide to come back to god You're gonna have to still deal with that same problem Whatever causes you to leave god god will cause you to deal with it when you get back God is not the public school system He doesn't just let you graduate Doesn't just let you move on to the next uh to the next grade whether whether you've done the work or not God puts a trial and affliction something before you because he's trying to work on you Because he's trying to draw you closer to him And if that trial and that affliction and that pressure and that problem causes you to quit and causes you to wander And causes you to waste a bunch of time out in the world and wilderness. That's fine. But when you decide to get back That prom will still be there for you The prodigal son left because he was mad at his dad But when he left on his journey and he came to the end of himself when he came back home He still had to deal with his dad So we see that god is purposely causing them to deal with the same types of things that they dealt with 38 years earlier A new generation a different generation the children of the people we read in exodus 17 But I want you to get the background this is why moses is so upset he's already done this He's already dealt with this problem in this place with these people Now I want you to motive notice Now that we've seen the background Let's look at the blow up Look at verse 10 This is moses not at his finest Numbers chapter 20 verse 10 And moses and arian gathered the congregations together before the rock and he said unto them here now ye rebels must we fetch you water out of the rock You said what is it that moses did wrong here Well, there's one major thing that moses did wrong And it's found in verse number 11 and moses lifted up his hand And with his rod he smote the rock twice I remember god earlier told moses to smite the rock in exodus 17 38 years later same problem same place same people God tells moses to speak to the rock but moses out of his anger smites the rock twice That's what he did wrong But I want you to notice that there's some things that he did leading up to that that I think they're worth noting Verse 10 and moses and arian gathered the congregation together before the rock and he said unto them here now Ye rebels the first thing I want you to notice is that he got angry With people That were not his He's mad at these people And moses and I understand this moses for every For whatever it's worth. He feels like these are his people He's been shepherding them. He's been providing for them. He's been protecting them He's been judging for them and and and bringing leadership into their life He feels like these are his people. He is their pastor He is their leader and to some extent they are his people but moses has to remember that at the end of the day These are the people of god He gets mad at these people he gets angry with the people As though they were his he gets angry with people that are not his Now there's a lesson for us as pastors To remember that though we lead in ministry and we pastor in ministry We need to be careful to always remember that the people that call us pastor and the people that call the church that I pastor Their home church and call me their pastor call my wife their pastor's wife at the end day We always have to remember that you are the people of god You belong to god As leaders, we must always remember that the people are not ours They are god and you say well that applies to a pastor. Yes, we can see that But let me just say this it applies to all leadership Hey husband, listen to me You think because the bible says That your wife is supposed to submit to you that you have the right to treat her like garbage You have the right to treat her like crap That you have the right to treat her like an idiot or an imbecile. She can't even speak to you She must walk, you know, sometimes I look at so-called baptist husbands and I think are you you're more of a muslim than you are a baptist Your wife can't look you in the eye. She can't address you, you know, she can't say anything to you Hey, let me tell you something that she's she's not yours. She's god's She's a child of god And to treat your wife that way let me just say it as plainly as I can man you're an idiot God has given you a woman to be a help me in your life to help you in life God has given her wisdom and discernment and ability to see things and i'm so thankful in my own life that i've allowed to not Uh, just be the pastor of the church but my wife and I really serve here as a team and so often her thoughts and her insight her judgment as a Discernment has been something that has helped me so much in ministry and I look at some men and I think to myself Some men and I think to myself god gave you someone to help you and you just constantly are putting them down and shutting them down She doesn't belong to you by the way, let me say this parents children are in heritage of the lord They do not belong to you Yesterday my wife and I were in an airport and we were At a checkout getting something getting water There was this man with his Children, I don't know. I'm sure he's traveling. He's busy I'm sure there was the tired and pressure but his kid accidentally clicked the wrong thing on the self-checkout He just starts yelling at him and saying just and to the point where the cashier has to like go and it's like trying To break up this fight and i'm just thinking myself We act this way towards people when we think they belong to us And god has given me children god has given me a wife and god by his grace has given me a congregation But none of those are mine. They're his I've been put in a position of leadership To be a servant leader Not necessarily to serve them But to serve them through leadership My job is to lead them for their benefit We see one problem with moses that he gets angry with these people As though they were his and though these people there's not much good to say about them They're still the people of god And by the way that can be said of you and me Why don't you notice the second thing that moses does here that's wrong leading up to this problem First he gets mad. He got angry with people that were not his people Hear now ye rebels god never told you to say that But then I want you to notice what moses says he says must we fetch you water out of this rock And when I read that I think he says must we and I think to myself really moses we Are you you and aaron are going to make water come out of this rock? Is that what's happening here? Must we he's talking about himself and aaron must we fetch you water out of this rock? Let me tell you something some issues with moses was this that he got angry with people that were not his And he took credit for something he did not do He did not do Must we fetch you water out of this rock you're not bringing water on that rock moses god is And look, let me just say because sometimes people criticize god even from this own chapter They look at god and they say god you kind of come down hard on moses As a result of this episode moses is not going to be allowed to enter into the promised land and oftentimes our thoughts are these Well god, you're kind of being mean to moses here, but look understand this he is Treating these people he gets angry with these people that were not his and he takes credit for something He did not do must we fetch you water. Hey moses give god the glory You're not bringing water out of this rock and look I can tell you I understand How frustrating it is for people to take credit. I understand why god gets so angry It's it can be frustrating when people take credit for things that they've not done I mean even my own staff god bless them I've had such a I mean just at these work days. There's been times these work days where some Somebody shows up early. They've been working for a long time. I go to one of the staff guys and I say hey I'd like you to let's pick up coffee for brother so and so And I hear him get on the phone say hey brother i'm picking you up coffee. What do you want? And I think to myself really really is that what's going on here? You're picking up a coffee. Are you gonna pay for it? Because I think what's going on here is that I asked you to pick up coffee for them And i'm paying for it And that it's frustrating By the way, let me just do a little staff training your staff men When pastor asks you to pick up groceries for a company that for a family that's maybe struggling When you drop off those groceries the appropriate thing to say is pastor asked me to drop this off When pastor is out of town and he asked you to maybe Do a hospital visit to somebody that's In the hospital the appropriate thing for you is to walk into that room and say pastor asked me to stop by and It's frustrating sometimes and I can understand why god is looking down at moses and he says must we Fetch your water and god's like really moses. You're gonna do this. I'm curious. How are you gonna do that moses? Moses got angry with people that were not his And he took credit for something that he did not do Must we fetch you water out of this rock we see That moses goes off under pressure look he's cracking under pressure and I my heart goes out to him. There's lots of pressure in ministry By the way, let me just say this We must always remember that those who lead us Even the greatest of men the best of men are men at best We have feet of clay Your leader your pastor your husband your parents. They're going to disappoint you at some point They're going to say something they shouldn't have said They're going to do something they shouldn't have done They're going to speak out in anger So we see that moses has a very low point here He disobeys god look at verse 11 and moses lifted up his hand And with this rod he smote the rock twice And the water came out abundantly And the congregation drank and their beast also We saw what set moses off, but let's just quickly see what sets god off God gets very upset about this. In fact, god gets so upset that he tells moses because of this because of this episode Aaron's gonna die you're gonna die and you're gonna die in the next year. You're not gonna go into the wilderness because of this Aaron dies in the next chapter moses dies later on in the year But moses who spent his whole life trying to get the children of israel into the promised land Fails to enter the promised land because of this Because you smote the rock when god said speak to the rock You say well, what's the big deal? I don't get it. Well, let me explain to you. What set god off what upset god The first thing is that moses destroyed the symbolism One of the reasons that god was doing this if you remember we've been learning this in the book of hebrews Is that all throughout the old testament there are these stories the book of corinthians tells us that they are set as in an example For us we can learn things from them They're symbolic and god was actually setting up a story here that was supposed to be symbolic But moses messed it up He destroyed the symbolism you say what was the symbolism go back to exodus 17 look at verse 6 Exodus 17 verse 6 behold I will stand before thee there upon the rock of horrib This is god speaking to moses and thou shalt smite the rock and there shall come water out of it He said I want you to smite the rock I want you to hit the rock and water is going to come out And then 40 years later 38 years later, whatever it was numbers 20 verse 8 Notice what he says go back to number 20 verse 8 take the rod and gather thou The assembly together thou and erin thy brother and speak unto the rock before their eyes Don't hit it. Just speak to it And it shall give forth his water And thou shall bring forth to them water out of the rock So shalt thou give the congregation and there be strength you say I don't get it. What's the big deal? Let's go to first corinthians chapter 10 in the new testament Matthew mark luke john ax romans first corinthians first corinthians chapter 10 matthew mark luke John ax romans first corinthians chapter 10. Look at verse one First corinthians chapter 10 verse 1. What's the big deal about this? The big deal is that this rock represented something very important first corinthians 10 verse 1 Moreover brethren I would not that ye would be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through The sea and were all baptized unto moses in the cloud and in the sea and they'd all eat the same spiritual meat And they'd all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank notice it for they drank Of the spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was christ The bible tells us that there was a rock that they drank out of and that spiritual rock that followed them That rock was christ this rock is a picture of the lord jesus christ by the way all throughout the bible Jesus was pictured as a rock That's why I believe when jesus said I will build my church. He says upon this rock. I will build my church He's not referring to peter the supposed first pope We're not catholic he's talking about himself. He's the rock The rock was christ So, well, what's the problem here the picture what was supposed to happen was this That moses walks up to the rock which represents christ and he smites it And it provides water And then 38 years later 40 years later, whatever it is. He walks up to a rock That represents christ and he speaks to it and it brings forth water In the bible water is picture of salvation remember, uh the woman at the well He said if you drink of this water you'll thirst again, but if you drink of the water that I shall give you You'll never thirst And the picture was supposed to be this that the rock the lord jesus christ was to be smitten isaiah says stricken He was supposed to be beaten He was supposed to be punished For with his stripes we are healed The rock was supposed to get smited and as a result salvation flows out water falls out axis flows out But that only has to happen once because when jesus paid for our sins He was able to pay for the sins of the whole world one time So what about the rest of humanity for the rest of humanity? What was the rest of humanity supposed to do to get water from the rock to get salvation from the lord? Jesus christ, we don't have to smite him again. You just have to speak to him For whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made into salvation This was supposed to be a picture of salvation that the rock gets smitten once and then from then on We just speak to the rock We just ask the rock he said if you knew the gift that I had That I want to give you that god wants to give you jesus tells the woman at the wall you would have asked of him You would have spoken to him you would have called upon him in faith and he would have saved you That was the picture god wanted But moses and his anger messed it up. He smote the rock twice And god said moses That makes me very upset So we see that moses destroyed the symbolism. Maybe that helps you understand why god is so upset with moses But that's not the only thing I want you to notice not only do we see go back to numbers chapter 20 if you would Not only do we see moses's destroyed symbolism We also see moses's divine vandalism Because I want you to notice God says speak to the rock. What does he do? Look at verse 11 again number 20 verse 11 and moses lifted up his hand and with his rod. He's both the rock twice And the water came out abundantly Now here's what's interesting about this Is that this is not the first time We see moses break something that belongs to god Let's look at it quickly go back to excess 32 Remember moses coming he was up on the mount meeting with god. He comes down with the 10 commandments of two tablets That god wrote on them with this God gave to moses and he wrote on them with the finger of god And moses comes down from the mount and what have the children of israel decide to do? They decided to get naked and dance around a golden calf and worship a golden calf And moses is angry and justifiably so But notice in excess 32 in verse 19 the bible says this and it came to pass as soon as he came Into the camp that he saw the calf and the dancing and moses anger watched hot and he cast the tables out of his hands And break them what tables god's tables The 10 commandments that god gave them And he break them beneath uh the mount And he took the calf which they had made and burnt it in the fire and ground it to powder and strutted upon water And made the children of israel drink of it here we see that moses in his anger breaks the tablets the 10 commandments of god 40 years later and his anger breaks the rock Moses what's interesting about moses is that we see these outbursts of anger from moses From time to time But he wasn't like this every day. In fact, the bible even tells us that moses go to numbers chapter 12 Look at verse three Moses no moses numbers chapter 12 verse 3 some of you are looking for the book of moses numbers 12 verse 3 Numbers chapter 12 verse 3 now the man moses was very meek above all the men Which were upon the face of the earth He was the meekest man on earth Meaning he was humble He was meek He controlled himself the bible tells you the meekest man on earth, but yet from time to time he had a temper He breaks the tablets he breaks the stones I don't know about you, but to me this is to me. This is kind of encouraging It's encouraging to me that the bible is not just filled with stories about great men at their highs But the bible is filled with stories about those great men at their lows And it reminds us That we are on a journey And sometimes we mess up Sometimes we fail Say well, what is there to do get back up and try again? We see this great man moses Who in anger Is angry at the people that are not his takes credit for something he did not do We see his not only destroyed symbolism But we see his divine vandalism and I think god just got to the point like moses You've just kind of broken one too many things of mine You broke my tablets. Okay. Now you're breaking my rock. This has it's got to stop By the way, let me just say this if you get so angry you break things it needs to stop It's not okay, you're a grown man, you're a grown woman time to start acting like one numbers 20 look at verse 9 So there's the story. Let me just end Real quickly with three quick applications and we'll finish up three quick applications for you By the way, let me just say this about the rock in in first corinthians. We're told that the rock followed them That spiritual rock followed them And I don't necessarily believe that there was actually a rock rolling behind them for 40 years following them But the idea is this that when they needed the rock it was there and 40 years later when they needed the rock again It was there And you know the rock the lord jesus christ will always be there when you need them Yes He'll always be there for you. Let me just finish real quick with these three quick applications Look at numbers 20 verse 9. The bible says this and moses took the rod from before the lord and he commanded as he commanded him And moses and aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock and he said unto them hear now ye rebels Must we fetch you water out of this rock just real quick three applications. We'll finish up. Okay, we'll be done in five minutes Here's the first application It is a privilege to be in the work of god It is a privilege to be in the work of god, let me finish So don't get disgruntled with people Here we see moses he's he's not mad at god he's mad at them here now you rebels But let us always remember that it is a privilege to be used of god It is a privilege to be in the work of god it is privileged to serve god and let's not get disgruntled because of people It's interesting to me how often People quit a church not because god failed them not because the word of god failed them Not even oftentimes because I failed them Although I may fail them at some point or my wife failed them or the staff failed them But just because they get disgruntled with people People I gotta quit coming to this church because all the people I can't get along with the people I have to go find another church. Well, let me let you in on a little secret. There's gonna be people there, too And it's just interesting to me how people they they they start serving as an usher they start serving on the safety team They start serving in the choir or in the orchestra. They start serving god And if you ask them when they first started why are you serving god because I love god Why because I love my church because I love my pastor because I love the ministry because I I want to help this and then fast forward Maybe not 38 years later, but 3.8 years later and it's like ah everybody in the orchestra Uh, everybody on the ushers, uh everybody on the safety team and it's like why are you why did you start again? Did you start serving because of people well they don't do what they're supposed to do They're never where they're supposed to be. They never start on time They're never practicing everything look and I get that and I understand all that But let's always remember that it is a privilege to serve god and we don't do what we do because of people Now look I want everybody to serve with excellence it's a theme of our church But we must always remember That it is a privilege To be in the work of god Don't get disgruntled because of people I Want you to notice a second application the water he provided it abundantly I don't know how much water this was But I know this there was millions of people there with cattle. I'm sure a lot of water was gushing out of that rock It's interesting to me that though God gave instructions to moses and said I want you to do this I want you to do it this way and moses failed to do it God still did what he said he would do water came out Abundantly and let me just remind all of us that god after often works not because of us but in spite of us It is a privilege to be in the work of god, so let's not get disgruntled with people And before we start getting so high-minded that we start looking down on everybody Let's remember that god if god uses us for anything he often does it Not because of us but in spite of us He uses us Though if we were honest, we are unworthy to be used Let me give you the last application we'll finish this out It's in verses 12 and 13 now And the lord spake unto moses an errand Because you believe me not To sanctify me in the eyes of the children of israel. Therefore you shall not bring this Congregation into the land which I have given them Here's the third application it's just a verse luke 12 48 For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall much be required You know god expected a lot from moses And as a result god came down pretty hard on moses And the bible tells us That moses was not allowed into the promised land therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which i've given them verse 13 This is the water of maribah because the children of israel strove with the lord and he was sanctified in them Now, let me just say this i'll in one minute i'll say this in closing You say we leave moses here on the low But did he ever repent did he ever get right with god? Well consider this Who's writing this? It's moses moses is writing Documenting for us this story in numbers chapter 20 Said did he ever repent? I think the story is his repentance Did he ever get right? Yeah, I think he's writing this saying here's where I messed up Here's where I failed I didn't not Get to enter the promised land, but then I have to ask the question did moses enter the promised land And the answer is no But maybe yes Because when we fast forward not 38 years, but several thousand years We get to the nation of israel We get to the lord jesus christ We get to the famous mount of transfiguration And you know who meets jesus there on the mount of transfiguration moses It's interesting to me that jesus kind of snuck him in there at the end We can always get right we can always repent Even when we fail we can always get up the next day and say i'll do better i'll try better His mercies are new every day Great is thy faithfulness Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly father Lord we love you. We thank you for this story It's a little complicated Until we start to unravel it we start to dissect it We start to look at great men like moses and realize They're not much different than us Lord I pray you'd help us I pray you'd help us to never look at the people that you've given us to lead as our people They're not ours those children you've given us they belong to you For those of us that are married that wife she belongs to you if we lead in any capacity Those are your children they belong to you Help us to never treat people That aren't ours like they are ours Help us to never take credit For things we have done we haven't done as though we have done it Help us to always control our emotions and our anger Not allow it to get the best of us and we're not i'm not looking down on moses great man But if it can happen to moses it can happen to us Lord I pray you'd help us to learn and take heed to these lessons and we thank you for the rock That though moses messed up the illustration and we know it's still true we can call upon that rock It will follow us through life. It will always be there when we're not there Follow us through life. It will always be there when we need it In the matchless name of christ we pray Amen We're gonna have brother matt come up and lead us in a final song Just want to remind you a couple of things First of all, I want to remind the men that we do not have your bulletin is incorrect We do not have work days this thursday this friday this saturday. We have one work day tomorrow I know it's monday and I know some of you guys have to work or whatever and I get that But if you are able if you are available if you can call in sick, no, i'm just kidding don't do that But you know if you have vacation time though or whatever you can do it in a legitimate way Um, then, uh, we would appreciate your help. There's a clipboard back there. Please sign up We could use your help. We need to get this building painted tomorrow There's just some work that needs to get finished up So we would appreciate your help with that and I want to encourage you to be back tonight 6 p.m For the evening service. We're going to pick up tonight right where we left off And we're going to continue on through the book of numbers with the children of israel in the wilderness And we're going to look at the death of aaron And I think you'll find it interesting and I hope you'll come back as we study the bible together If there's anything we can do for you Please let us know we'll have the mac come up and lead us in a final song Turn song 250 Two five zero Two hundred and fifty sing it out on the first Me She's also Me Sing it well sing it on the last Me Amen good singing before we leave here if anybody has questions about Salvation church membership or baptism pastor will be at the door I'd love to talk to you or direct you to someone who's trained to talk to you about that Uh better adam, would you close the prayer for us? So